


Who Thought Budapest Was a Good Idea Anyway?

by Telaryn



Series: Budapest Revisited [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Big Bang Challenge, Budapest, Clint Needs a Hug, Emotional Baggage, Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, Hacking, Hydra (Marvel), Infinity Gems, Kissing, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Prison, Season/Series 01-02 Hiatus, Sex, Unrequited Love, What Happened in Budapest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 21:02:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2284386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the chaos following the fall of SHIELD, HYDRA makes a move to bring Clint Barton in from the field - believing he can help them crack the secrets of an Infinity Gem.  At the same time, newly-appointed SHIELD Director Coulson is attempting to consolidate his available resources.  Priority one is bringing his two best assets in and briefing them on his status before they find out from somebody else.</p><p>When he learns of Clint's situation, Phil takes his team down into Barton and Romanoff's past, to a city none of them thought they'd see again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Thought Budapest Was a Good Idea Anyway?

**Author's Note:**

> Artwork by the hugely talented Cobalt Siren - go here (http://cobaltsiren.tumblr.com/post/97130974098/my-only-cover-was-a-con-fanmix-for-agents-ofBanner/story) for the awesome fanmix and here (http://cobaltsiren.tumblr.com/post/97131228823/who-thought-budapest-was-a-good-idea-anyway-an) for the art. Leave much love - her work is some of the best I've ever seen!
> 
> Written for Round 2 of the Agents of SHIIELD Bigbang - thanks to the mods for giving me the opportunity to tell this story.

_“Eventually you will tell us everything we need to know, Herr Barton.”_

The bitch of it was, they were right. Once upon a time Clint knew he could have counted on somebody looking for him. Coulson in particular had never let him down on that front – hell, one of the last orders he’d given before he died was for Nat to “bring our boy home.” She’d succeeded too, just not in time for Phil to know. Now Coulson was dead, Fury was dead, SHIELD had rotted from the inside out…the only person left in his entire life Clint knew he could trust was Natasha.

Resisting the urge to get to his feet and resume pacing the length of his shackles, Clint instead hugged his knees to his chest and tried to ignore the cold that was starting to seep into his body from all sides. Knowing that Loki’s staff was here, in the hands of people who knew his history with it and had no reservations about using it made it virtually impossible for him to settle. The idea of becoming another madman’s mindless drone, having his skills bent to their whim, was terrifying in a way he’d rarely contemplated.

The familiar blue glow flashed in his mind as an ordinary blink lasted a few beats longer than it should, and he couldn’t stop himself flinching. _”Eventually you will tell us everything we need to know.”_ Clint had no reason to hope he would be able to resist the staff’s influence any more effectively this time. HYDRA had his files – they already knew he was the perfect test subject for whatever they had planned. Hell, the order to bring him in had apparently been one of the first things to go out as the dust from SHIELD’s collapse was starting to clear. 

_Natasha…_ he thought, pressing his forehead to his knees so the cameras watching him wouldn’t see how worried he was. _Come on babe – find me._ There was only the slimmest of chances she’d seen the flare he’d sent out into cyber-space before being taken. It was enough to keep him resisting his captors for now, but Clint had always been a realist at heart. Time was against him here. Something was going to have to change, and soon.  
*****************************   
 _The truth isn’t all things to all people all of the time._ She’d meant the words when she said them, but there were certain things Natasha Romanoff didn’t admit to just anyone – not even Captain America.

 _Snakes on all sides._ He’d gone to the Deep Web to fire off his flare, which told her that a noose was tightening around her partner faster than he could compensate for. It had taken Natasha longer than she wanted to make it to their rendezvous in southern Germany, and by the time she arrived Clint was in HYDRA custody and the air in Rothenburg was still shivering with echoes of the fight where he’d been taken.

The list of reasons why HYDRA would target Clint was short and frighteningly specific. Natasha knew that whichever reason had pushed them into action she only had a small window of opportunity before Clint took matters into his own hands. _Don’t leave me,_ she thought, her hands flexing nervously against the parapet of the roof she’d chosen for her observations of the HYDRA base. _Don’t you dare._

The truth may not have been all things to all people all of the time, but even as her world burned around her Natasha had never lost faith in the truth of her bond with Clint. Their connection was the bedrock of her life and the reason why she’d only hesitated long enough to answer Andrew Pierce’s sneering question before dumping her life and everything she’d ever done – good or evil – onto the web for the world to see. There was nothing she had done, nothing she could ever do that would convince Clint to turn his back on her. She would do no less for him.

Of course this was one of those times where she’d need to lay hands on some explosives first.  
**************************************  
 _How do you find a shadow in the darkness?_ Skye hunched her shoulders instinctively, trying to block out the sounds of Fitzsimmons squabbling as they loaded material and equipment into the Bus. They were all worried about Leo, who’d only been back with them for a few short weeks after nearly dying in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but only Jemma was brave enough to express her feelings out loud.

Unfortunately, being Jemma, she not only expressed her feelings out loud – she was currently expressing them with fewer pauses for breath than most of her fellow humans could manage without passing out. Skye had found it comforting in the beginning, but today it was one more thing adding to the pressure she’d been under since Coulson had handed her a slip of paper and a mission. “There is nothing more important to me,” was all he’d told her, but as soon as she’d seen the names ‘Barton’ and ‘Romanoff’ scrawled on the note in his unmistakable handwriting she’d understood that failure was not going to be an option.

“Really?” she sighed, feeling the weight of May’s expectant gaze on her like a physical pressure. Setting her search programs off in a new direction, she glanced up at her teammate. “You do remember we’re talking about two of the best spies in the world, right?”

“He thinks you can do it,” May said. “So do I.”

Skye swallowed hard; it still caught her by surprise whenever May acted anything but cold and dismissive towards her. “I found evidence of him being in Germany up until about six weeks ago.”

“When Black Widow left the States.”

They’d all seen Natasha Romanoff’s testimony before Congress about the events that had brought down SHIELD and changed the face of international politics forever. Skye in particular had been transfixed by the woman’s confidence – bordering on arrogance – as she told some of the most powerful men and women in the free world to stuff their accusations and their threats. “Director Fury confirmed that she left the States two days after her appearance on Capitol Hill,” Skye said, glancing at two of her search engines which were blinking for her attention. “Barton drops out of sight shortly after that, so based on their history…”

“They’re together,” May interjected – letting Skye know without actually saying it that she was taking too long to get to the point.

So the hacker nodded instead, smiling slightly as she clicked on one of the programs looking for her attention and realized that she finally had an answer. “I’ve been getting hints over the last few weeks of movement through eastern Europe, heading for…” She glanced up at the pilot, meeting May’s eyes without flinching.

“Budapest.”  
**************************************  
 _”You’re just going to have to see for yourself. Coulson’s different. We’re not weapons or tools to him – he knows we’re people, and that matters.”_

Coulson was pretty sure Hawkeye knew he’d been listening at the door, but neither of them had ever confirmed it to each other. It was something that needed saying though, and at the time Natasha wouldn’t have believed it coming from him. His job was to back up Hawkeye’s words with actions – show their newest asset that she’d made the right choice joining SHIELD. He wanted to believe he’d succeeded, but everything had slipped so far out of sync so quickly at the end.

 _”He was having trouble reintegrating.”_ Fury hadn’t wanted to talk about Clint and what had happened to him after the Battle of New York, but Coulson had decided in the aftermath of everything he’d ever trusted breaking down that this was an area he no longer wanted to take the Director’s guidance on.

“No one wanted to work with him, and I needed Natasha closer to home. We got some reasonably reliable intel of an active HYDRA base in eastern China, and when I offered it to him he jumped on it.”

Under the circumstances, or what he knew of them, Coulson could believe Fury’s account of events. Not for the first time since he returned to life he felt a stab of guilt that he’d kept himself removed from his favorite agents – Clint in particular. _He blames himself._ He didn’t need Fury or any of the psych reports available on Hawkeye’s state of mind after being freed from Loki’s control to tell him that. 

_The question is, would I be making things better or worse by coming back from the dead like this?_ Brushing his fingertips over the reports he still needed to go through, Coulson took a seat behind his desk staring blankly into space.

 _Barton’s been compromised._ With all the work that had been done on modifying his memories, it was staggering to Coulson that he remembered pulling Natasha in from the field with perfect clarity. _Probably because you didn’t have the authority to do it,_ he was forced to acknowledge.

Now, of course, he had all the authority he needed and Coulson knew he couldn’t leave it alone one second longer. Even if he stayed behind the scenes while he did it, he was going to do everything in his power to bring Clint and Natasha home.

Almost as if on cue, Melinda rapped lightly on the frame of his open door. “Skye has a location. We can go wheels up in fifteen.”

Coulson felt his heart rate tick up several beats in speed, but managed to keep his expression neutral. If he’d been facing anyone but Melinda he might have gotten away with it too. “What?” he asked when she didn’t immediately withdraw.

“You know we can handle this.”

He nodded, acknowledging what she was saying as well as what she wasn’t. “My time in the shadows is running out. If I’m really coming back to life there are still people I need to be able to face on my own terms.”

Melinda’s expression grew thoughtful. “You know he was pretty messed up by everything that happened.”

Coulson put a hand on top of Clint’s file; the gesture almost protective, he was amused to note. “ _You_ know a good handler doesn’t trust the reports on his asset. A good handler sees for themselves before drawing a conclusion.”

He appreciated the fact that May didn’t see the need to insult him by pointing out that it had been a long time since he’d been anyone’s handler – let alone Barton and Romanoff’s.  
*************************  
Leo was grateful Jemma had been so distracted by the state of one of her bio-regenerative experiments that she hadn’t followed him into his workroom. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate her fussing over him – he did – but only when he could play the stoic wounded warrior in return. Moments when the air in the lab felt like scalpels piercing his lungs and his vision was gray at the edges all her worrying and clucking did was remind him how he really had no right to even be here.

_”My man Coulson says you’re a fighter.”_

He’d been half-convinced he _was_ dead when consciousness had returned and Director Fury had been sitting at his bedside. _”He also says that you’re absolutely trustworthy, which is something we’re going to need if SHIELD has a chance to survive this HYDRA bullshit.”_ Fitz remembered trying to move then, intending to take off his oxygen mask so that he could tell Fury that Coulson was right – he wasn’t HYDRA and he never would be.

His hand had done no more than twitch before Fury covered it with his own. _”You don’t know this,”_ Fury went on, _“but there is a debt between us. You invented something a few years back that recently saved a few lives…including my own. So I’m gonna do for you something I don’t often do for people that I need on my team.”_ The warm, powerful fingers curled around his hand, and Fitz felt his throat tighten with emotion.

 _“You get a choice,”_ Fury told him. _”When the medics here decide you’re good to go, you can rejoin Coulson and your team…continue fighting to rebuild what we all believe in.”_ Fitz almost wanted to stop him there – he already knew there was no choice for him, but he was frightened of facing the temptation of what Fury was about to offer him.

Even at his best, though, he wouldn’t have had the courage to stop a man like Fury once he got started. So, _“Or, you can retire. Disappear – you would have my personal guarantee of safety and security for the rest of your life.”_ Fury had risen then, patting Fitz gently on the shoulder. _“Think it over. No one will fault you whichever path you choose.”_

 _”He means it, you know,”_ Coulson had said when the newly minted “Director” had visited him a few hours later. _”Giving your life for the job really is just supposed to be a metaphor.”_

Fitz had already made up his mind though. The only favor he extracted from Coulson was that none of the others – especially Jemma – would know what Director Fury had offered him. _She never would have let me alone if she knew I’d given up the chance to be safe._

“Fitz!”

He flinched at the sudden sharp sound of Skye calling his name – a moment later, the hacker was peeking around the edge of his open workshop door at him. “There you are! We…”

All Fitz’s hopes that she wouldn’t notice anything off with him were dashed almost immediately. “Where is it?” Her eyes were already scanning the dimly lit room; Fitz waved his hand weakly in the direction of his desk, but he couldn’t tell if she saw it or not.

“Dammit Fitz,” she swore, catching up the abandoned metal canister and hurrying to his side. Leo didn’t resist as she covered his nose and mouth with the mask and turned on the rush of pure, clean oxygen. Closing his eyes, he focused on inhaling as deeply as he could and pretending his entire body wasn’t shaking.

“Sit,” Skye urged, taking him firmly by the arm and guiding him to a nearby stool. “Man, Tripp said he thought you were starting to look a little run down…”

The name of the handsome specialist who had taken Ward’s place on the team was like a knife between Fitz’s ribs. “Don’t,” he gasped, putting his hand over Skye’s. “Don’t tell Jemma…”

Skye grimaced. “What, that you were being a total dumbass? Don’t worry – why do you think Tripp got me to come find you? He’s keeping Simmons distracted until you can show your face.”

Something of Leo’s discomfort must have shown on his face because Skye’s expression softened. “You need to stop blaming him for not being Ward.” Before he could say anything she added, “And for him liking Jemma. He’s really trying to respect how you feel.”

 _And that’s the bitch of it, as the Americans say,_ Fitz thought. Pulling off his mask he said, “The problem isn’t Tripp – not really. I promise I’ll be better about making sure he understands that.”

Skye forcibly replaced his mask. “How about you focus on getting better first? Then worry about getting along with everyone.”  
****************************  
She hadn’t had to drag his unconscious, bleeding body to safety as the HYDRA base burned around them, so on a scale from Tanzier to the bowels of Fury’s helicarrier, Natasha was forced to consider the rescue a win. Learning the reason they had taken Clint in the first place was more worrisome, but Nat didn’t hesitate when Clint asked for her assurance that he was free of the Mind Stone’s influence.

“We can’t leave something like that in HYDRA’s control.” She knew they were both in agreement on that score, even though Clint wasn’t nearly as talkative as he would normally have been. “Should we try and alert Thor?”

The flash in his eyes told her more effectively than words that she wouldn’t make any progress along those lines. Her partner kept insisting that he bore the Asgardian no ill will, but Thor still loved his brother against all reason. Any chance of bringing Loki and the staff together again would be Clint’s undoing.

Fortunately for Natasha’s temper, Clint wasn’t the type to shoot down an idea without offering one of his own. “What do you know about the Infinity Stones?”

Natasha still wasn’t sure she hadn’t caught a touch of madness from him, but as she listened to the scenario Clint spun she had to admit that it had as much chance of working as anything they were capable of pulling off on their own with minimal weapons and tech and no hope of support. “Budapest, huh?” she asked after he was finished laying out his plan, and he grinned at her crookedly.

“Almost like it was meant to be.”

The luck that had let her free Clint with a relatively minimal amount of damage and injury stayed with them long enough to hitch a ride out of southern Germany. It wasn’t until late the next afternoon when they bid the trucker who’d helped them good-bye in Northern Hungary that Natasha was forced to acknowledge Clint was in more trouble than either of them had first realized. “You’ve either picked up a flu,” she said, testing his skin and finding it clammy, “or you’re having a reaction to one of the drugs they gave you.”

“I’m fine,” he protested, trying to push to his feet. Natasha stood back, arms crossed over her chest, and let him work it out for himself. A moment later his eyes widened and he fell back into a sitting position. “Okay, maybe not,” he was forced to admit, blinking up at her. “What now?”

Nat studied the surrounding countryside. “We’re about a mile outside of Eger. Assuming HYDRA’s been too busy to burn it we should still have a secure safe house inside the city. I say we head there and hole up for however long it takes to get you back on your feet.”

Clint considered her proposal, and then offered her one of his most pathetic grins. “Can we get indianer from that bakery on the corner?”

She barely managed to keep from rolling her eyes before helping him to his feet. “When I’m certain you aren’t going to insult Ajaz’s mastery by throwing them back up again.”  
*********************************  
Pietro liked being free of the castle. She watched, smiling, as he sped down the road in front of her, and then raced back to her side. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

She didn’t have the heart to tell him that outside of their physical separation and the pain she knew it had brought him, she had actually preferred the confines of her cell. Her sessions with the mind gem always left her too drained to protect herself from the weight of energies constantly pressing in on her. Baron von Strucker and his scientists were so terrified that she might use her powers on them to one day slip their control that they had done everything they could think of to make her cell capable of containing her abilities.

And such things worked both ways. If she couldn’t affect them, conversely they could not affect her.

“Budapest is a very large city,” Pietro said suddenly. She looked at him and realized that he had been watching her in turn. “Are you certain we need to go there right away?” He had seen and understood how she had improved the farther they got away from Rothenburg. She knew she couldn’t allow her weaknesses to overcome them both however; together they were powerful, but Von Strucker’s forces could still take them by surprise.

“The bird man was terrified of the mind gem,” she said finally. “He seemed convinced the only way he could guard against it was with a similar stone housed in Budapest. We need that stone if we are to stay free of HYDRA and what they wish to do to us.”

Her brother smiled. “Getting there first should not be a problem.”  
**************************************  
Skye tried to ignore the fact that her brain literally ached with the amount of information she’d absorbed in the previous twenty-four hours. _”You handle the briefing,”_ Coulson had said, and she desperately wanted to do him proud.

The problem was, when you threw SHIELD’s two greatest spies into the mix, nothing was ever simple. May’s assumption that Barton and Romanoff being together in that part of the world meant Budapest had sparked Skye’s curiosity, so she’d followed the trail as far as her own abilities could take her before involving Coulson. He asked her a few questions, then showed her where to find the rest of the information she needed to flesh out the bigger picture.

“The day she began her testimony in front of Congress, Black Widow sent a single text to a burner cell phone in Eastern Tibet.” She flashed the content up on the virtual screen. “Obviously a warning, and cross-referencing it with Hawkeye’s last known mission parameters it’s safe to assume the message was meant for him.”

“That text was sent from Agent Romanoff’s official SHIELD phone,” Coulson said. “Why wouldn’t she have taken greater precautions, especially since the text preceded an order to bring Barton in by less than thirty minutes?”

“She needed a way to guarantee it was from her,” May said, before Skye could pick one of the half-dozen reasons that immediately occurred to her for why Natasha Romanoff might have chosen to do something. “Word about HYDRA’s infiltration was spreading faster than anyone could control – she had no way to verify what Agent Barton did or did not know without risking his safety.”

“It tracks,” Skye said when Coulson’s attention shifted back to her. “Substation Little Victory answered the order to bring Barton in. They said he had been at the base, but had left no more than five minutes in advance of the communique.”

“Why didn’t they pursue?” Fitz asked.

Skye shrugged. “They reported being insufficiently staffed to mount a pursuit. Agent Barton dropped off the radar at that point, surfacing a few weeks later in southern Germany. I found several encrypted communications between an estate in Rothenburg and what we now know to be a HYDRA base in DC following what local police reported as an incident of ‘civil disobedience’ in the streets.”

She shifted the image they were looking at to satellite pictures she had found from a few days earlier and felt the ripple of surprise through the others. “This is from earlier this week, and precedes another series of encrypted communications between the estate and the HYDRA base in DC.”

Tripp gave a low whistle. “You’re saying Black Widow did that? I thought she only did subtle.”

Coulson snorted softly. “She’s had a rough couple of months.”

“Okay,” Jemma said, positioning herself for a better look at the picture, “assuming that is the result of Agent Romanoff rescuing Agent Barton, where do we get Budapest from that?”

“In 2008, Agents Barton and Romanoff were dispatched to investigate some strange goings on at Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest,” Skye said. She glanced at Coulson for reassurance, and was rewarded with a small nod. “Their reports of the mission differ wildly from each other – the only time in their entire history of working together this happens.” Reading the Top Secret files had been a rush; Skye had been overwhelmed at the level of trust Coulson had placed in her, given her history.

“Director Fury concluded that the difference in accounts was caused by the presence of an 084 commonly known as the Reality Gem.”

“An Infinity Stone?” Fitz asked, his curiosity clearly piqued.

Coulson nodded. “The communiques Skye intercepted made reference to an energy matrix. We haven’t determined the precise nature of the matrix, but it’s easy to extrapolate that Barton and Romanoff have decided to make a try for the Reality Gem to hold off whatever it is HYDRA has in their possession.”  
*******************************************  
“Cora’s got the bikes,” Clint announced, returning to the safe house just before noon. “Said we can pick them up in back of the diner after close tonight.” He paused, and Natasha heard a paper bag rustle significantly. “And she sent lunch.”

Natasha could count on one hand the number of times between them that she and Clint had been laid up by something other than physical damage. This was a good thing for the overall health of their relationship, since they were both lousy patients. By the time Clint finished sweating out the combination of drugs HYDRA had been feeding him to keep him calm and cooperative, Nat had been more than willing to agree that he could go by himself to meet their local contact.

She had taken advantage of the quiet and solitude to resume work on the paperback she’d started reading three years ago – the last time they’d spent the night in this apartment – but her stomach growled at the prospect of food. Cora’s father made the best nokedii she’d ever tasted. “Did you stop in to see Ajaz?” she asked, grinning as she joined him at the small kitchen table.

He snorted, setting out the containers. “Give me a little credit, will you?” He passed her a container. “I watched Cora’s papa take that out of the oven.”

Her smile widening, Nat hurried to grab utensils and glasses. In short order, the two spies were settled, digging into all their favorite local dishes. Now that they were in a position to travel, they would be on the road for several days going into uncertain conditions. Both of them understood from their combined decades of experience that the basic necessities had to be seen to whenever possible.

Their target would be the yellow Infinity Stone, also known as the Reality Gem. Clint believed it was in Vajdahunyad Castle, and Natasha could find no flaw with his logic. “We’re going to have to be very careful about how we approach it,” she said, finishing off the last of her nokedii. “That thing is like having a djinn in your back pocket. Lose focus for a moment and it will turn on you.”

“We didn’t know what we were up against last time,” Clint countered, finishing off the last of his pastries. “We’ve handled things at least as volatile as this before.”

Natasha bit back her first impulse, which was to call him out on his statement. During his detox, a feverish Clint had admitted that he’d had every intention of dying rather than being taken once he realized what he’d stumbled across. The HYDRA agents who’d been chasing him had other ideas of course; he’d been netted like some sort of bizarre flying fish while leaping from one rooftop to another. His limbs had ended up so tangled in the heavy ropes that he wasn’t able to reach either of his knives in time to do himself any good.

“I’ve got to admit, I don’t like our chances of controlling this thing long term,” she said, leaning back in her chair and perching her feet on the only empty seat at the table. “Unless we want to stick Banner or Stark with it, we’re pathetically low on people we can trust.”

“As long as it stays out of HYDRA’s clutches,” Clint said, “I don’t much care who gets stuck with it.”  
*************************************************  
 _He’s acting like himself again._ Jemma had stayed largely silent as she and Fitz returned to the lab. Tripp, with his uncanny ability to read a room, had stayed behind to talk to Coulson and May. In the absence of outsiders, Fitz had finally begun to free associate – spinning ideas into theories on how they could possibly contain something with the power of an Infinity Stone.

“We can send the drones in to secure it,” he said, stopping suddenly and turning back towards her. “Is there any literature on the size or weight?”

Taken aback at being addressed directly all of a sudden, Jemma scrambled for an answer. “I’m certain there is,” she said, “but it can’t possibly weigh more than all seven of them are capable of transporting, can it?”

He looked thoughtful. “I suppose not, but we have to consider the likelihood of its existing in more than one dimension. Something called the “reality gem” is likely to play a bit fast and loose with the laws of traditional physics.”

As they fell into their old familiar pattern of talking a problem through, Jemma noticed Fitz’s breathing gradually becoming more labored. The voice of the SHIELD medical officer who’d overseen his recovery began droning in her head again, overlaying Fitz’s still-excited babbling with a list of the damage that had been done in their escape from the underwater coffin Ward had consigned them to. _Please stop,_ a tiny voice in her head whimpered. _You’re going to hurt yourself again Fitz – please stop._

She would have sooner died herself than say the words out loud. Hearing how Fitz really felt about her seconds before almost losing him for good had complicated their relationship beyond anything she would have ever expected between the two of them. _”His feelings are legit, even if you can’t return them,”_ Tripp had reminded her one night when she couldn’t sleep and he’d taken her up on the roof to watch the stars.

While she wasn’t ready to rule out never being able to return Fitz’s affections, Jemma had already decided that she would do everything she could to allow her best friend to preserve his dignity. People who knew him were always surprised to find just how proud Leo Fitz could be – Jemma knew if she could leave him that there was at least a chance for the rest of it to work itself out. “I’m going to need to read up on the gem and its properties,” she said, once he finally paused long enough to give her an opening. “The stone in Loki’s staff displayed many organic traits, but I don’t know if that will hold true for all of them or not.”

“And that will affect how we contain it,” Fitz acknowledged. Jemma felt her heart ache – now that his excited babbling had slowed she could see a definitely blue-gray tinge to his skin color. His expression was suddenly distracted as well, almost as if he was beginning to realize he’d overdone it.

“Mind giving me an hour to catch up?” she asked, opening the door for him to escape the conversation and do whatever it was he needed to do to set himself to rights again. Legitimately distracted now, Fitz nodded and disappeared into his workroom.

 _He doesn’t need to be going back into the field._ Jemma felt like the worst sort of traitor for thinking it but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was too soon – that in trying to convince themselves that Leo was fine they were going to end up making everything much, much worse.  
*****************************  
 _”Director, I’m not comfortable with the idea of leaving something like that loose out there.”_

_“Your objections are noted. Now unless you’ve got a plan as to how we contain something that turned two of our best people into bumbling rookies, I’m afraid that’s going to be the end of it.”_

Coulson had wanted to send Barton and Romanoff back to Budapest when everything had first gone south. _Analyze the mission data, reevaluate, develop a real plan and go back._ To this day he remained convinced that the only reason they’d failed to retrieve the 084 was that they hadn’t been looking for it in the first place. They’d been caught entirely off guard, and the Reality Gem granted no quarter to the unwary.

A quiet knock on his open door roused him from his musings. “Come in Skye.” It had felt good giving her access to the Budapest files, and Coulson was definitely pleased with what she’d done with the information. “You handled the briefing like a professional. Plan on doing more of them.”

The girl exhaled, looking visibly relieved. “Thanks. When you asked me to come see you, I was sure I’d done something wrong.”

Smiling appreciatively at her fears, Coulson nevertheless shook his head. “You were fine. I wanted to go over those encrypted communications with you in more detail.” Getting to his feet, he came around the desk and gestured Skye to take a seat.

Visibly relaxing, Skye pulled out her phone. “I’ve managed to crack most of them,” she said, thumbs dancing over the tiny keyboard. “Were you interested in anything in particular?”

Guilt pricked at his subconscious as Coulson realized it had been too long since he’d tried to get inside Hawkeye’s head. A process that had once been second nature to him now required some effort. “Barton and Romanoff wouldn’t have headed straight for Budapest without a good reason,” he said. “Even if Clint thought it was necessary, Natasha would have been harder to convince.”

“You want to know what they did to him,” Skye said. Her unspoken accusation that he was looking for payback as well hung heavily in the air between them.

“Or what he might have seen,” Coulson countered. “Budapest is just about their only unsuccessful mission in all the years they’ve worked together. For them to head there with no support and no back-up, Clint knows something bad enough to persuade Natasha to make this move.”

Nodding, Skye looked at her phone again. “The first batch of emails confirm that Hawkeye is in custody and ask for directions on how to proceed. There’s mention of something they want to use on him, but they don’t go into any details.”

Something about the way she’d phrased things caught Coulson’s attention. “Did they refer to him by name?”

Glancing up, Skye shook her head. “The message says ‘Hawkeye’.”

Coulson inhaled sharply, his eyes going wide as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. “Son of a bitch,” he swore. Pushing to his feet, he returned to his desk and activated his direct communication line to the cockpit. “May, get Maria Hill on the line. I need to know everything she knows about what happened to Loki’s staff following the Battle of New York.”

Something of his rising panic must have communicated itself to his old friend, because Melinda didn’t hesitate. “On it.”

“What’s wrong?” Skye asked as he half-sat, half-fell into his desk chair; suddenly overwhelmed by what Clint and Natasha had stumbled across and everything it could mean.

 _He was targeted._ The initial order to bring Clint in hadn’t been part of any great sweep to eliminate Fury loyalists. HYDRA had something they wanted to use on Clint specifically, and the only thing that fit that bill was the mind gem… _last seen in Loki’s scepter._ Pulling his attention back to the here and now he asked Skye, “Was Dr. Erik Selvig mentioned anywhere?”

Skye looked uncertain. “Not in anything I’ve cracked so far. The answer that came back from DC was that they were to use ‘standard interrogation methods’ for the immediate future though. Whatever they wanted permission to use was supposed to be kept in reserve for another project.”

 _And that’s not worrisome at all,_ Coulson thought, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “The only thing that fits the parameters you’ve laid out is another Infinity Stone. Agent Barton was…compromised…by this particular stone during the events leading up to the Chitauri invasion. Threatened with its use on him again, he would definitely react in this fashion.”

“Do we need to change course?” Skye asked. “Go after the other stone first?”

Weighing all their options, Coulson ultimately shook his head. “We need to stay the course. Agent Romanoff will steady him somewhat, but if they decided on this course of action because Hawkeye was threatened with the mind gem, all bets are off.”  
*****************************  
Clint made no effort at stealth as he slipped out of bed later that night. The darkness of the tiny room and his own internal clock put the time at about three thirty in the morning, and years of field experience had taught him that it was pointless trying to move silently enough for Natasha not to notice.

Sheets rustled as she turned over to watch him. “Go back to sleep,” he said quietly, heading for the room’s only window. “I’m fine.”

“I’d argue the point,” she said, snorting softly, “but it’s late.” He heard more rustling as she got out of bed and crossed the room to join him. Clint couldn’t stop himself flinching when she pressed a hand to his bare back, but he managed not to pull away. _Progress,_ he thought, raising an arm to invite her closer. When she was curled in against his side, he blew out a quiet breath and tried to force himself to relax.

“What was it this time?” she asked after a long moment.

“Loki again,” he sighed. “Same old crap – I never shook him, the HYDRA guys did use the staff on me and I don’t remember.” His arm tightened around her shoulders. “And then I wake up and suddenly I’m missing Coulson worse than I have in the entire time he’s been gone.”

That she at least had an explanation for. “He always wanted us to go back – finish this,” she reminded him. “That last argument he and Fury had about it was one of the only times I’ve seen Phil get completely shut down by the old man.” Clint had actually invited her into the air duct with him to listen to the two men hash over the situation. They’d both been hoping they would learn what had happened to them and why their memories of the mission didn’t match up.

It could be argued that they had learned what they needed to – knowledge that an 084 was responsible was at least marginally comforting. What Clint remembered most about that hour was how passionately Coulson had argued for them, that going back and finishing the job was in their best interest. Natasha had been with SHIELD long enough by that point to understand the concept of someone in power whose job it was to protect and support her, but she’d admitted to him later that this was the first time she could ever remember somebody besides Clint willing to do battle with his own superiors because he believed something would be ‘good’ for her.

“I miss him too,” she said quietly. “He made me feel safe.”

Turning, Clint ducked his head far enough to catch her mouth with a kiss. Moaning low in her throat, Natasha leaned into the contact, slowly turning them both until her back was against the wall and she’d pulled Clint in as close as she could. His hands began to trace familiar patterns across her skin; Nat shivered under his touch, even as she responded in kind. After spending several long moments mapping each other’s bodies, he whispered against her shoulder, “We’re going to be okay.” He didn’t know whether the words were question, statement or prayer, but when her hands tightened on him, Clint knew they were enough.  
**************************  
“Hey Skye – hold up!”

Lost in the effort of trying to absorb everything she’d taken in over the previous couple of days, it took Skye longer than it should have to realize Tripp was talking to her. “Coulson wanted me to check in with you before we touch down,” he said.

Skye raised an eyebrow, once again thoroughly confused. “I was just with him – is everything okay?” She realized belatedly that the specialist was holding something that seemed at first glance to be a meaningless jumble of leather straps.

“Depends,” Tripp countered, drawing her attention again. “How do you feel about carrying a gun?”

 _Shit._ Skye’s brain chose that moment to not-so-helpfully inform her that the meaningless jumble of leather straps was, in fact, a shoulder holster wrapped around a 9mm. “I, uh, still say ‘bang’ sometimes when I’m on the range.”

Trip was at least able to do her the favor of not _openly_ laughing at her. “I read Ward’s reports,” he said kindly. “According to him you meet the minimum standards for being able to carry in the field.” He passed the rig to her. “Coulson wants you to be able to protect yourself in case things go bad down there.”

“Why doesn’t he give me one of the icers then?” Skye knew she was edging perilously close to whining, but she hadn’t had to think about this part of her SHIELD training since before everything had gone so horribly wrong. “At least I can’t kill anyone with those!”

Tripp’s expression was serious. “They also don’t look like a real gun to somebody trained to spot the difference. If we kit you out with an icer, you read as a little girl playing at being a badass – not somebody who needs to be taken seriously.”

“You’re talking like I’m not going to be protected on all sides,” she said – now starting to be genuinely afraid. “Between you, May and Coulson…”

“You’re with Coulson,” Tripp said. “Searching out Barton and Romanoff. May and I are responsible for getting Fitzsimmons to the gem and out safely again.” He paused. “He really didn’t tell you?”

Skye thought back over her conversations with Coulson. “He’s preoccupied. Bringing Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff in is a really big deal for him.” She paused, remembering the last time she’d been alone with Fitz. “Are we sure Fitz is going to be okay? Does May know about what’s been going on?”

Taking the shoulder holster from her, Tripp helped her put it on. “May knows. Coulson knows, and we’re doing everything to make sure Fitz can do this. You need to stop worrying about everybody else and get your head in the game.”  
*******************************  
Leo felt Jemma come into his workroom and closed his eyes – praying that somehow she wouldn’t notice him struggling to catch his breath, couldn’t tell how tightly he was clutching the edge of the countertop.

“Your oxygen is under the counter,” she said quietly, and he felt his heart break. “Please use it.”

Fitz tried to make himself let go and whimpered as he felt the room start to spin. “Help,” he gasped. “Please.” He didn’t want to add insult to injury by passing out minutes before they were scheduled to land.

She didn’t panic. Fitz was grateful for that, but as he turned to let her put the oxygen mask in place he noticed that her hands were trembling. _I’m sorry,_ he thought as their eyes met. He didn’t waste precious breath on saying the words out loud – instead making a show of breathing deeply of the life-giving gas.

“I can’t keep pretending you’re okay,” she said finally. Even in the dim light he could see the hint of tears at the corners of her eyes. “It’s not fair, Fitz. You need to stay here where you’ll be safe.”

Covering her hands with his, he pushed the mask away. She tried to resist him for a moment, but subsided at the determined look in his eyes. “We’re stronger together Jemma,” he said, swallowing hard. “We’ve got May and…Tripp…to protect us and one shot at containing this thing.”

She sniffed audibly at that, pulling a hand free to dash at the tears. “I almost lost you once. Every time I think about it, I…”

He cupped her cheek in one hand, trying not to think about how good it felt to touch her that way. “Then don’t,” he said quickly before either of them could get distracted. “I’m here. I survived. You have to let me get back to doing my job though, because otherwise everything I’ve done so far means nothing.”

“That’s really not fair,” she almost growled, and he let his hand fall – taking control of the oxygen mask and bringing it back up to his face.

“I’m right though,” he said, his voice vibrating strangely off the plastic. “You know I am.”

Her eyes narrowed in the way they always did when she was gearing up for a fight, but finally she sighed; her body visibly slumping in defeat. “Don’t get used to it,” she said. After a moment she added, “I’m carrying the drone case.”

It wasn’t worth the effort to argue with her.  
*************************************  
“I should head for the castle,” Pietro said. He was already bouncing nervously from one foot to the other, but she didn’t bother warning him against the movement. His control over his powers was improving with each day they spent free of HYDRA’s control, and she didn’t want to do or say anything that could undermine his progress. “You know I can be there and back with the gem before they even get into the city.”

“They have a plan,” she said, indicating the SUV backing down the plane’s ramp. It was followed by a bright red convertible carrying a man and a girl. “A plan to contain and control the gem.”

“Okay,” Pietro conceded, “but is it a good plan?”

Smiling slightly, she turned to face her twin. “Good enough that we should let them take the risk and do the work. How do you feel about breaking into a top secret military transport plane?  
********************************  
Coulson wasn’t prepared for the gem to be outside the castle. “East of our position, Sir,” Simmons reported, glancing at the scanner in her hand. Coulson wondered for half a second how she could be so certain, but Fitzsimmons had repeatedly assured him they had the means to track, contain, and safely transport the gem. “Definitely not inside the structure.”

It steadied him. “This mission will succeed or fail on the strength of our focus,” he said to the group. “Fitzsimmons, your job is to focus on the gem and bringing it into your possession. May and Tripp, you stay focused on Fitzsimmons. Barton and Romanoff got into trouble because they were unaware of the gem’s existence and proximity, and as such couldn’t make it work for them.”

The two fighters nodded. “Nighttime security should be sparse on the grounds,” he added. “Avoid all contact as long as you can, but zero body count if you’re forced to engage.” He paused. “In the event that you encounter Barton and Romanoff before we do, they are not to have possession of the gem under any circumstances.” Off May’s eloquently raised eyebrow he said, “You have an icer. Do not hesitate to use it. Skye, with me.”

Turning on his heel he strode briskly towards the castle. _Distracted,_ he thought – not really believing the gem could work on such a basic level, but willing to use anything he could to give them an advantage. _Distracted and not looking for us._

“You think May and Tripp can beat Barton and Romanoff?” Skye asked as they crossed the courtyard into the castle. She was taking two steps to his one, but Coulson didn’t dare slow his pace. They longer they stayed within the influence of the reality gem, the more unstable the situation would become.

“May and Barton used to be friends,” he said as they reached the doors to the Gothic wing of the castle’s pastiche of architectural styles. He tried the door and found it locked. _Of course._ Not willing to risk bluffing their way in, Coulson palmed his lock picking device and went to one knee. “I’m counting on that staying his hand should it become necessary. What’s the status of the security system?” Privately he was grateful Skye’s head was so thoroughly in the moment and that she was so worried about what could happen to the other members of the team. _Anything that keeps her from asking how I’m doing._ Because the truth was, he was mildly terrified at the idea of confronting Clint and Natasha after all this time.

 _They’re going to kill me,_ he thought – not for the first time – and not for the first time he understood that he couldn’t blame them for being angry with him. _Let me bring you home safe,_ he thought. _Let me remember what it’s like to do my goddamn job, and I swear I’ll take whatever punishment you think you need to dish out._

“It’s a zoned security system,” Skye said, her voice trembling slightly. Coulson pulled his hands away from the knob on hearing that. “Give me a second…okay. Zone has been neutralized, and I’ve kept the system from tripping an alarm on the panel. We’re clear.”

Exhaling softly, Coulson went to work – counting off the time in his head. _Ten seconds,_ he thought as the lock clicked open. Especially with the high tech SHIELD device at his disposal, his best time was at least half that long. _So much lost._

“Gun out,” he said to Skye as he straightened up – drawing the other icer again. Coulson watched as Skye awkwardly transferred her phone to her weaker hand and drew the 9mm he’d asked Tripp to fit her with.

“You don’t really expect me to kill anyone with this, do you?” she asked, voice trembling slightly more than it had been.

“I expect you to conduct yourself as a sworn Agent of SHIELD,” he said, catching her eye and willing her to steady herself. “The SHIELD we both believed in. We have to stay focused – we have no intel on how far the gem’s effect reaches, so we don’t know what will happen from this point on.” He paused, knowing it would lend weight to what he was about to say. “Can I count on you?”

Skye nodded without hesitation, drawing her gun and thumbing off the safety as she aimed it carefully at the ground. “I’ve got your back. I know what this means to you, AC – I’m not gonna let you down.”

He smiled at her use of the nickname. “I know you won’t. Let’s go find our missing agents.” Shouldering open the door as quietly as he could, Coulson scanned the darkened interior. Stepping through, he raised his weapon and scanned the area. “Stay close,” he murmured, moving further into the room.

They were nearly to the center when Skye asked, “Are we sure none of these artifacts is the stone?”

Reasonably certain they weren’t in danger of being ambushed, Coulson lowered the icer and turned back towards her. “I trust Fitzsimmons to know what they’re doing,” he said firmly. “The stone is not our focus – Barton and Romanoff are.” Scanning her posture quickly, he nodded – liking what he saw. “Take point,” he said, indicating their next room with a small jerk of his head.

Their eyes met briefly, and Coulson had a moment to wonder about the source of the emotion he saw flash in Skye’s gaze before the world around him abruptly smeared. Gripping the icer more tightly, Coulson widened his focus – trying to sense the approaching danger before it could gain the upper hand.

When his vision finally cleared, Skye was nowhere to be seen.  
*******************************  
 _I’m fine,_ Fitz thought as the group of them headed down the path leading to where Simmons was certain they could find the gem. _I’m fine._ His heart rate was elevated, but it was easy to convince himself it was the excitement of the retrieval mission and not anything more creepingly sinister.

They’d gone approximately two hundred yards when May gripped his shoulder, pivoting to put herself in his path. “This is not the time to be foolhardy,” she said, meeting his gaze. “Do you need your oxygen?”

Fitz swallowed. He could feel the others watching him, but didn’t dare look away from Melinda’s steely gaze. “If there was…a…way to slow the pace down a bit I’d be fine,” he said, stumbling over the words but forcing himself to own the truth. They all knew he was a liability – it was up to him to show them he wasn’t.

Melinda studied him for a long moment, and then nodded. “Tripp, Simmons, you move ahead. We’ll follow.” Her eyes narrowed, and Fitz saw Jemma take a startled step backwards. “If you try to do anything with the gem before Fitz and I catch up, I will shoot you myself – are we clear?”

“Clear,” Jemma said softly, as Tripp took her by the arm and urged her backwards.

“She wouldn’t do that,” Leo muttered, feeling the urge to defend his partner.

Melinda lowered her head briefly, and Fitz thought he could hear her softly counting under her breath. When she looked up again she said, “You both tend to lose all sense in the face of something new and scientifically shiny – Simmons worse than you, but I’m not going to lose either of you to this.”

He nodded rapidly. “I understand.”

There was a beat of silence between them, then Melinda stepped to one side. “Set the pace.”  
*********************************************  
“Son of a bitch,” Coulson swore. He was definitely alone, with no clue as to where Skye had vanished or how she had been taken. 

“Okay, think,” he muttered finally, lowering his weapon and trying to collect his thoughts. _This is the Reality Gem at work – it has to be._ This particular Infinity Stone granted wishes, if their data was to be believed. If they were in range of its area of effect and there was something Skye wanted badly enough, it was a logical enough conclusion that she had accidentally triggered the stone.

He activated his communicator. “Skye?” Traitorous thoughts that she might have wished for something that took her beyond the range of their earpieces tried to crowd into his mind, but Coulson resolutely forced them back. “Skye, can you hear me?”

A low hum of static was his only answer for nearly a full minute, and then everything abruptly cleared. Skye’s voice was in his head. “Coulson?”

Before he could say anything, before he could even confirm that he’d heard her, another voice filled his ear – a voice he’d begun to believe he would never hear again. “What did you just say?” Heart rate spiking, Coulson began to run – visions of what the two best assets he’d ever worked with could do to someone like Skye before he reached them filling his head.  
*******************************************  
“Coulson?” It took Skye several beats to orient herself. A moment ago she had been with Coulson, starting their search of the castle. Now she was outside in a courtyard, with a full, heavy moon shining through a canopy of vines and flowers. The scent of roses filled her nostrils.

“What did you just say?”

Startled, Skye whipped around to see a man perched on the low wall. A compound bow was in his hands, an arrow on the string, and he was at full draw – the shaft aimed directly at her.

She didn’t realize her hand was moving towards her gun until a woman appeared at her side, grabbing her wrist and using the hold to twist her arm up behind her back. “She said Coulson,” the woman said, forcing Skye to her knees. The girl cried out in real pain at the force of the impact, nearly dragging Natasha Romanoff down on top of her.

_”Skye? Skye, can you hear me?”_

“Now why would she say that?” The point of Agent Barton’s arrow lowered, but he held his position.

“I’m SHIELD,” Skye managed, her breath coming in ragged sobs. “SHIELD. I work with Agent Coulson – we were looking for the two of you.”

She cried out again in surprise and pain as Agent Romanoff forced her wrists together behind her back – securing them with a zip tie. “Do you think they sent her from Rothenburg?” she heard Agent Barton ask.

“Whoever she is and wherever she’s from, she’s not alone,” Agent Romanoff answered him. “We need to crack her and fast.”

_”Skye – listen to me carefully. Do not give them any reason to hurt you. I’m on my way.”_

Skye tried to draw a breath, to relax and focus as she’d been taught, but just then her wrists were hauled up behind her – the position forcing her head down over her knees. She couldn’t stop the pain noise that escaped her, only dimly aware of Coulson swearing in her ear. “Let’s start with your first mistake, myshka,” Agent Romanoff purred. “Do not try to curry favor with your captors by feeding them something they already know to be a lie.”

 _They don’t know. They were never told._ Skye struggled to stop trembling as the implications of everything she was about to be up against sank in. “It’s not a lie,” she gasped. “It’s not. I swear. Coulson’s alive. He’s coming here.”

 _”Offer to prove it,”_ she heard Coulson say. _”I can give you the answer to any question they ask about me.”_

Before she could say anything, Hawkeye crouched in front of her. Skye managed this time to keep from doing more than whimpering as he grabbed her ponytail and forced her head up so they could see each other clearly. “Believe it or not I don’t want to hurt you, but I just spent a long stretch of time in HYDRA custody and I’m not interested in going back.”

“I’m not HYDRA,” Skye said softly, her vision briefly blurring with tears. “And I’m not lying about Coulson – ask me anything.”

Barton cocked his head at that, studying her as if he wanted to believe what she was saying but couldn’t quite make himself. From behind her, Skye heard Agent Romanoff say, “How did you manage to track us here?”

Skye swallowed, trying to ignore the strain it put on her throat. “Coulson set me to find the two of you after Fury put him in charge of rebuilding SHIELD.” She saw Barton’s attention tick briefly to his partner and felt her stomach flip as she realized Fury being alive was another thing he hadn’t been told. “I started with Agent Romanoff’s text the day she finished testifying in front of Congress and went from there. The trail was faint, but Coulson gave me access to everything I needed in order to stay on it.”

Clint scowled. “That still doesn’t explain how you got from southern Germany to Budapest.”

“Coulson figured you ran into something in Rothenburg that scared you enough to try for the Reality Gem,” she said. Skye knew she wasn’t as skilled at reading body language as she should have been, but she figured she would have had to be blind not to see Barton’s reaction and know that whatever it was he’d encountered Coulson was right.  
*****************************  
If Natasha could have gotten her hands on Nick Fury in that moment she would have happily strangled him. _We’ve been a little busy,_ she thought in response to the accusing glare Clint shot her. Nat had always intended Clint know the truth about Fury’s supposed demise, but the timing never seemed to work out.

Now she had to stand by and watch as he learned the facts from a third party – a stranger who was also claiming Coulson was alive. Natasha knew that six months ago she would have dismissed the girl’s claims out of hand, but it was a different world out there now. In a world where Nick Fury could fake his own death how much harder would it have been to fake the murder of a man whose job was to stay in the shadows?

The problem was that right or wrong, the girl was credible. Natasha listened to her answering Clint’s questions and realized that her partner thought so too. “She’s well prepared,” she said, catching Clint’s eye. “Disturbingly so.”

Clint already looked shaken – wherever this girl had gotten her information, she was giving answers Natasha would have assumed could only have come from Fury…or Coulson himself. “Do you think it’s the gem?” he asked. “Could it be twisting our perceptions?”

Nat exhaled softly. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.” There was still the possibility that Coulson was somehow alive, but she didn’t want to deal with the implications of _that_. Clint’s grief and guilt had nearly killed him; the idea that it had been for nothing would not end well.

The girl struggled to raise her head again. “Uh…Agent Barton?” Nat heard her swallow – the strain of the stress position was starting to affect her. “He wants you to take my earpiece.”

She looked directly into Clint’s eyes as long as she could, but eventually the pressure became too much for her and her head dropped again. Clint’s eyes ticked over to Nat, and she stepped forward.

“Lying would be a fatal mistake – you understand that, myshka?” The girl’s skin was clammy under her fingers as Nat deftly removed her communicator. _SHIELD issue,_ she thought, pitching the tiny earpiece over to Clint. _Of course in light of recent events…_  
************************************  
 _”Where are you?”_

A chill shivered across Clint’s skin. “Who is this?” Trusting Nat to watch their prisoner, he turned his back and walked to the edge of the courtyard. _It sounds like him._ He’d lived for years with Coulson’s voice in his head – the idea that someone would try to fool him like this was both mind-blowing and terrifying. “And don’t say Coulson. He’s dead, and I’m not in the mood.”

_“Don’t be an idiot, Barton. You know me better than anyone alive – ask me something only the real Phil Coulson could answer.”_

A dozen possible challenges immediately crowded to the forefront of Clint’s mind, making it impossible for him to speak at first. Overlaying the small spark of hope was the all-pervasive dread that this wasn’t real, wasn’t happening – that like last time, he was experiencing something nobody else was. “I can’t,” he said finally, sounding far more vulnerable than he really wanted to. “This is a trick. It has to be a trick.”

Time seemed to stop as he heard Coulson’s voice doubled – in the earpiece and in the rose-scented air of the cloister. “It’s not a trick.”

Clint whipped around to face the newcomer, instinctively coming back to full draw. Their prisoner burst into tears – the last of her control clearly in tatters. “Cut her down, Natasha,” Phil said. “She hasn’t lied to either of you, as you can see.” Eyes Clint had believed he would never see again came to rest on him. “Stand down Agent Barton. It’s me.” His tone softened, and even in the dim light Clint could see the weight of emotion in his expression. “It’s really me, Clint.”  
******************************  
Simmons flinched as Tripp laid a hand gently on her shoulder. “Hey – breathe,” the specialist said lightly. “Nobody’s around.” She looked up in time to see him nod at the statue in front of them. “Is that where it is?”

She nodded vigorously, glancing from the view screen in her hand up at the hooded head of the statue. “See that faint glow?” she asked, trying to point up under the carved folds. “That’s our target.”

The two of them turned in time to see May and Fitz approaching. Jemma did a quick glance-over of her best friend and was relieved to see that the slower pace May had insisted he set had done him well. Bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet, she passed him the sensor. “It’s up in the hood.”

The energy that seemed to be dancing along the surface of her skin appeared to be contagious. Fitz’s eyes were wide in his pale face, and his skin appeared to be glowing. “Approach looks narrow for more than one drone at a time.” He passed the sensor back to Jemma and set his case down – going to his knees on the path. “We’ll send Grumpy in to grab it. He can drop it to Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey; the three of them should be able to get it into the case.

Simmons looked up at their two protectors. “We don’t know what precisely is going to happen once the gem is exposed. Your job is to stay focused on keeping Fitz and me safe – we are hoping that the gem will respond to that and not react to us in a hostile manner.” She drew a deep breath, trying to balance her excitement at being so close to an actual Infinity Stone against her nervous reaction to giving people like May and Tripp orders. “Whatever happens, you must not touch the stone. The gem making contact with human flesh will have disastrous and unpredictable results.” She smiled as Tripp took an automatic and very deliberate step back.

“You do your job,” May said, “and we will do ours.”  
***********************************  
“Cut her down Agent Romanoff,” Coulson repeated – trying to project a sense of calm he definitely did not feel. “Skye is not your enemy.” He could hear the girl crying softly now, even though he couldn’t see her face, and the sound was like one of Natasha’s knives slipping between his ribs.

“How long?” The bitterness in Clint’s voice drew his attention, although he was relieved to see Nat moving to do as he’d instructed. “We went to your memorial you know,” he said, and Coulson felt his chest ache as he saw the pain like an open wound poisoning every line of Clint’s body. “Or should I say Nat did. It was _suggested_ that my presence at the service would be disruptive.”

“Clint,” he sighed. “What happened wasn’t your fault.”

Anger lashed out at him. “How _long?_ You owe me that much at least.”

“Come back with us,” Coulson said. “I’ll tell you everything – I promise.” He risked a glance at the women and saw that while Natasha had helped Skye to her feet, the girl wasn’t making any attempts to move in his direction. “Not here,” he added, looking back at Clint. “It’s not safe.”

“We’re looking for something,” Nat said. “It’s important. As soon as we have it, we’ll come in; you have my word.”

In retrospect Coulson knew he should have been prepared for Clint’s reaction. “We know what you’re hunting,” he said, facing Nat more fully, “and I have a pretty good idea why. The gem isn’t actually in the castle proper – it’s on the grounds. My people are collecting it now.”

He had a moment to react as Clint launched himself across the distance that still separated them. Sidestepping the archer’s body, he used Clint’s own momentum to put his former asset on the ground. Before Clint could catch his breath, Coulson kicked him over onto his back and leveled the icer at the kill spot in the middle of his forehead. He saw Natasha flinch at the edge of his vision, but knew that she had already pegged the gun in his hand as a non-lethal weapon.

Trusting that she wouldn’t hurt Skye in retaliation for what he was about to say or do, Coulson sighted down the barrel – looking directly into Clint’s eyes. "What have I told you about attacking when you're pissed off, Agent Barton?" He exhaled softly. "Now - are you going to give me a chance to put this all to rights, or am I going to shoot you?"

He watched Clint identify the gun and saw him turning over the available options in his mind. "Knowing you, I'll wake up in the brig in restraints," the archer sighed at last.

Coulson allowed himself the hint of a smile. "Still not as dumb as you look."  
*******************************************  
He was in trouble by the time they returned to the bus, but Fitz suspected it was one of those situations where handling the magical equivalent of a nuclear bomb trumped a little thing like respiratory distress. “We need to get this into a proper containment field,” Jemma said as they hurried into the lab – following his fleet of drones.

“Where do you need us?” May asked. She and Tripp had both paused at the entrance, unsure now that they were back in familiar territory how they were supposed to react.

He almost smiled at the small huff from Simmons that told him more eloquently than words how annoyed she was by the question. “Just…just stay there until we get it secured,” she said finally. “We should be all right, but…”

“We’re statues,” Tripp said, nodding. “Got it.”

Fitz turned his attention back to the monitor in his hand. “We’re steady here,” he told Simmons. “Green across the board.”

She went to her computer and keyed in the access code. Leo kept his focus steady – not letting his creations jostle their precious, precious cargo any more than absolutely necessary. The ache in his lungs was starting to pass into a burning as more of the damaged tissue succumbed forever to what had happened to him, but he was determined not to falter.

“All clear,” Jemma announced, and Fitz responded by sending the drones forward. They flew in perfect formation, carrying the container with the Realty Gem into the containment field and setting it down with little more than a soft displacement of air. He was already maneuvering the small fleet of drones back out of the field as Simmons reported that everything remained stable.

“Drones clear,” he announced, the second his winged friends were safely past the edge of the containment field. “Close it up.” The world sparkled as he brought the drones in for a landing, and he giggled.

“Did you just..?” he heard Jemma say as she turned to stare at him. The world went soft and quiet around him and as he slowly collapsed to his knees, his entire body shivered under the force of a sonic boom.

“Simmons?” Any sound he might have made was swept away in the backwash of whatever had just passed through the lab. _Something’s gone wrong._ He fell forward, his hands striking the floor – but the impact never registered in his flesh. His only awareness of his body was suddenly intellectual and the implications of that terrified him.

“You’re dying. Is this a path you wish to take?” Blue eyes caught his, seemed to pull him in…up…until Fitz was on his feet again with no clear idea how he’d gotten there. In front of him was a girl in civilian clothes, with long brown hair and the wisdom of the ages in her eyes.

 _Oxygen,_ he thought, unable to muster enough energy to form the words. _Can’t breathe…_

The girl tilted her head – almost, Fitz realized, as if she was listening to his thoughts. _Do you want to breathe?_

_I don’t want to die!_

The sudden rush of air forcing itself into his lungs doubled him over in pain, nearly dropping him to his knees again. “Fitz!” Jemma screamed as he managed to catch himself on the edge of the table.

“I’m all right,” he managed to say, and while impossibly weak, his voice was his own again. He looked up and saw that Simmons was being restrained by a young man with long hair and a similarly haunted look in his eyes.

Of May and Tripp there was no sign.

“Let her go,” Fitz growled, locking eyes with the man holding Jemma. She was clearly terrified, but he couldn’t tell if it was for him, for her, or for the both of them. Whichever it was, Fitz knew he would still do whatever it took to keep her safe. “You don’t need her.”

“Give us the pretty,” the girl said, drawing his attention back to her. Fitz shivered, trying to look away – obviously Jemma’s situation was the greater priority – but there was something compelling about the intruder. _You call it the Reality Gem, but you have no understanding of what the name means. Give it to me._

Leo shook his head, tightening his grip on the table to steady himself. “We know enough,” he forced himself to say out loud. He could feel the girl in his mind, idly picking through his thoughts, and a crawling sense of violation churned his stomach. “You can’t have it.”

He inhaled sharply as she closed the distance separating them in the blink of an eye. “The two of you are bound as closely as my brother and me,” she said, reaching up to touch his cheek. “What if I told you I could use the gem’s powers to heal you of your lung rot?”

“Doesn’t…matter…” Leo stammered. He whimpered as the girl’s fingertips ghosted across his skin. “We…we can’t…just give you something like an Infinity Gem.” Fury, Coulson, May…they expected certain things from him as a SHIELD agent. He had to prove to them that he was faithful. “No…no deal.”

“Can you heal him? Really heal him, not just a trick?”

Stunned, Leo looked across at Jemma – trying to figure out where she was going with this. _It has to be a trick. She’s running a scam on them, buying time, trying to trick them into giving us something._

There was only one problem with the explanations his brain was coming up with – _Jemma Simmons wasn’t that good of a liar._

The girl looked over at Simmons. “With the power of the gem, I can make it so he was never injured. He will be as strong as he ever was.” Leo flinched as she touched his chest. “This will be pink and strong again.” Her hand moved to another spot. “This one too.” She looked up into his eyes. “On my brother’s life and mine, you have my word.”

He was going to refuse, going to tell her the price was too high, but before he could find his voice Leo heard Jemma say, “Done.”  
************************************  
“There!”

Skye couldn’t see anything from where she was sitting. Either Coulson had a better angle, or he trusted Barton’s eyesight just as much as he ever did. Either way the SUV shifted course.

 _”Two 0-8-4s.”_ Memory of May’s report over the comms slid through her thoughts again. _”One evidencing incredible speed – Tripp and I were carried a good two miles from the ship.”_ Neither of them had been able to report anything on Fitzsimmons beyond the fact that the gem had been secured _before_ the two unknown beings had struck.

“There was evidence of other experimentation going on,” Hawkeye said once they had all piled into the SUV. “At the castle.”

“What you’re telling me is that you have no idea what you two might have freed while Natasha was rescuing you?” had been Coulson’s extremely nonplussed response. The super-spies had no answer for that, so neither of them said a word.

Skye was so worried about her friends that she didn’t realize her leg was bouncing up and down like a trip hammer until the Black Widow’s fingers dug hard into the meat of her thigh. “Stop doing that, or I swear to God I will knock you unconscious.”

“Agent Romanoff,” Coulson said – an edge of warning in his voice. The red-head released Skye, but not before her partner quipped, “Is she even old enough to drive yet?”

“She reminds me a lot of you, actually,” had been Coulson’s response. “I expect great things from her.”

Skye knew Agent Romanoff at least was looking at her, but she didn’t dare look up to verify her suspicions. Since hooking up with Coulson and his merry band of misfits, Skye had maintained no delusions about her physical capabilities. Ward, Tripp, Coulson – even May – had assured her she was coming along very well for someone of her age and decided lack of proper training.

The briefest of encounters with the woman sitting at her side had been more than enough to show her how very outclassed she still was.

“Stop that.”

Startled, Skye glanced up to see Coulson looking at her in the mirror. “One of the truest things you will ever hear me say,” he said, his expression full of the understanding she’d come to value so much from him, “is that when you measure yourself against Natasha Romanoff you’re going to lose. Every single time. It’s no slight against you, Skye – she is just that good.”

Skye was almost positive she heard Black Widow make a small pleased sound, but Coulson was pulling the SUV to a stop and May and Tripp were taking positions on the running boards on either side of the vehicle. Windows were rolled down, but Skye couldn’t hear details of Coulson and May’s conversation over the rushing wind.

“He believes very deeply in you.”

Startled, Skye finally looked into the eyes of the woman who had been her captor less than an hour ago. “We had a rough start. Some days I still don’t know why he took a chance on me.”

Agent Romanoff’s expression went strange for a moment. “I have been trained to understand how men think since I was a child, and the only truth I’ve found in all that time is that people will surprise you regardless of their gender.” Her attention slid past Skye, and the hacker remembered the matching notations in hers and Barton’s files about the partners’ “inappropriately intimate” relationship. _Whatever they feel about each other, it obviously works for them,_ the hacker thought.

Fear for her friends surged through her as the Bus came into view over the horizon. “What could they want with Fitzsimmons?” she asked, not expecting an answer.

Clint Barton half-turned in his seat to look at her. “I’m guessing they were the last ones in possession of the Reality Gem.”  
********************************************  
Coulson felt his jaw tighten as he heard Clint’s answer to Skye’s question. _Please let them be all right._ The team as a whole tended to be very protective of FitzSimmons, especially since Leo’s all-too-near brush with death. The idea that he’d left them at the mercy of a pair of 0-8-4s capable of taking out _both_ Tripp and May definitely crossed the line from disturbing into full-on daunting.

“Skye, stay…with Tripp,” he said, changing his mind at the last second. _Nobody stays behind,_ he thought. He was as certain as he could be about anything that with Clint and Natasha augmenting Tripp and May’s abilities that there was very little out there that could stand against them. The greatest tactical error he could make at this point would be leaving Skye behind without any substantial means of protecting herself.

“Fitz!” he called, leading the charge up the ramp. “Simmons!”

Coulson’s world seemed to stop half a dozen times in the silence that followed. At the edge of his visions he saw Skye start to move forward and Tripp pull her behind him. A soft creak split the air as Clint came to full draw. Before he could figure out what the archer might have seen, they heard Simmons call out, “They’re gone! It’s just us!”

The tension that had bound the group of them together in a single purpose snapped with an almost audible sound. Skye ran forward again, and this time when Tripp made a grab for her Coulson waved him back. “The three of you make sure the ship is clear, and then I want us in the air. Barton, with me.”

He hesitated half a moment as the familiar words fell from his lips, but if Clint felt awkward about them he gave no sign – falling into step behind Coulson as if no time at all had passed.

The lab was intact – no sign of a struggle except for a stool that had been knocked over. Fitz was leaning against the main table in the center of the room, trying rather unsuccessfully to convince Simmons to back away from him. “Sir – she healed him!” Jemma said, catching Coulson’s eye. “He was dying and she…she healed him!”

Lowering his bow, Clint began searching the lab. Coulson moved closer to his science team and motioned for Fitz to turn and face him. “She touched him?” he asked, glancing at Simmons. “Did you observe anything beyond the physical contact?”

It was only a moment’s hesitation, but Coulson caught it. “What?” he asked, sharpening his tone.

Before she could answer him, Clint came back into the main part of the lab. “The containment field has been breached. The gem’s gone.”  
*****************************************  
It had never been Jemma’s intent to hide what she had done. Fitz still wouldn’t let her examine him, but she didn’t need her diagnostic instruments to tell her that her gamble had paid off. His breathing was normal, his bearing stronger, and his color was better than she’d seen it in far too long. She was comfortable with her decision and more than ready to face the consequences.

She had been prepared for Coulson to be furious with her. She had decidedly _not_ been prepared for the look of mingled shock and betrayal he gave her before turning his back on her and walking very quickly out of the lab.

“He’ll understand,” Skye said, once they were airborne. She reached out to touch Jemma’s arm. “Just remember all the times he’s been pissed at me and I didn’t have near as good a reason to break the rules as you did.”

Simmons glanced across the lab to where Fitz was talking with Tripp and May. She didn’t have any regrets for what she’d done, but she really was rubbish at the “bad girl shenanigans”.

 _”Agent Simmons to my office.”_ Coulson’s voice crackled across the ship’s intercom, making half the room jump. Pressing a hand to her chest, Simmons made certain her breathing was absolutely under control before squaring her shoulders and walking across the lab towards the door.

“Good luck,” she heard somebody say as she went to face the consequences of her actions.

Director Coulson was sitting behind his desk when she reached his suite at the top of the plane, reading something off his Starkpad. “Close the door and have a seat,” he said, not looking up or physically reacting to her presence in any way. There was no sign of Agent Barton or Agent Romanoff.

Jemma did as she was told, struggling to keep from nervously twisting the fabric of her blouse between her fingers. Now that the moment was here, she was feeling considerably less sure of herself.

“It might interest you to know,” Coulson said, still not looking up at her, “that every member of the team has been in here since we left Hungarian airspace, bending my ear on your behalf.”

The revelation staggered Jemma, but she squared her shoulders and kept her head up. “I hope you know I didn’t ask them to do that. My choice was my own, and I am prepared to face the consequences.”

Sighing heavily, Coulson finally set down his tablet. “I know what you did Jemma, and I know why. I also know that in your heart you believe you were right – that in saving Leo you were serving some higher morality.” Simmons felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw his right hand clench into a fist. “The truth is that at one of the most vulnerable times in our existence you gave an 0-8-4 capable of destabilizing the entire fabric of reality to another 0-8-4 capable of using that stone to make herself unstoppable.”

It took every ounce of will she had, but Jemma managed to respond to the charge with a steady voice. “I know what I did sir, and I make no excuses for my actions.” She had sworn the last time she was in this position with Director Coulson she would do whatever it took to make certain it never happened again.

And yet here she was, and because it was Fitz and because she owed him, she couldn’t even manage to be a bit sorry for what she had done.

Coulson continued to study her, almost as if he was working out in his head what needed to happen next. Finally he sighed again. “You are very lucky what command structure we have in place right now isn’t enough to support what _should_ happen to you. Notations will be placed in your file for now.” He leaned forward. “You haven’t heard the last from me on this, Jemma. In the meantime I know you want to continue running tests on Fitz. I also need you to spend some time with Agent Barton – get everything he knows about Loki’s Staff and get it into our computers. With two of the Infinity Stones on the loose, you and Fitz are going to have to start brainstorming ways for us to neutralize them for good.”  
*************************  
Simmons hadn’t been gone a full minute before Barton and Romanoff reentered Coulson’s office from where they’d been waiting in his bunk. “How did this become punish Clint Barton week?” Clint asked, already looking mutinous.

Coulson tried to smother a grin, but knew he’d only been partly successful. “I’ve already accepted that I will never see a report on your activities over the past twelve weeks,” he said, making a show of reaching for his tablet again. “Debriefing to Agent Simmons in an effort to help us finally gain control of the mind stone is the least you owe me in return.”

Clint’s eyebrows tried to literally crawl into his hairline. “We’re talking debts now? Seriously?” He started forward, but Natasha grabbed his arm.

“I’m trying to pretend that everything is like it was,” Coulson admitted, before Clint could say anything else. He gestured at the sofas. “Sit – both of you. Please.”

The three of them stared at each other for a long moment. Clint moved first – Natasha following in his wake. Trying to ignore how tired he suddenly was, Coulson finally got to his feet and joined them.

“I have no excuse,” he said, spreading his hands. “Fury didn’t want people looking too closely at my resurrection, so it’s possible that along with the false memories a suggestion was planted that I needed to stay away from the Avengers. All I know for certain was that when they told me they were classifying my existence higher than you were cleared for I never questioned it.” He blew out a sharp breath, locking eyes with Clint. “I’m sorrier for that than I have words to say, Clint. You especially deserved better from me.”

“We want the files.” Coulson was pleased to see Clint reach across and take Natasha’s hand. A man would have had to be blind to miss the fact that the two agents had been sleeping together for years, but he could count on one hand the number of times Clint in particular had initiated physical contact for simple comfort.

“Everything you know, everything you suspect,” Natasha added. “Once we’ve digested everything, the three of us will talk about this in more detail.”

He thought for half a second about invoking old rules and protocol, but those days were behind them. He owed these two in particular more than he would ever be able to repay – under the circumstances griping about clearances and ‘need to know’ seemed ridiculously petty. “Agreed,” he said with a curt nod. “You can’t be expected to know what questions need answering until you know the facts.”

Silence stretched between the three of them for a long moment. Coulson wondered if the other two were feeling as overwhelmed as he was. Despite his orders he’d fantasized about what this moment was going to be like for a long time, and now that it was here he’d never been more tongue-tied in his life. “So what happens now?” he asked. “Director Fury has tasked me with rebuilding SHIELD.”

“You know that wasn’t what Cap wanted, right?” Natasha offered. Coulson felt his heart skip a beat – Fury hadn’t mentioned anything about that. “His last word on the subject was to burn it all to the ground.”

Phil settled back in his seat and tried to process how he felt about that. “I don’t agree,” he said finally. “SHIELD may be the shadow behind the shadows, but we’ve been responsible for some good, necessary work over the years. I believe the right people in the right positions can make it what Howard Stark and Peggy Carter always intended it to be.”

“I was done with SHIELD,” Clint offered. “Fury dead, you dead, people I’d worked with for years suddenly calling me traitor.” He paused, and Coulson’s eyes widened as he realized what Barton was about to say. “I think you can do it. I think you can make SHIELD into something really great, and I would follow you.”

Coulson swallowed hard. “I don’t deserve your loyalty,” he said, his voice suddenly thick with emotion. “Not after what I put you through.”

“First,” Natasha said, her voice sharp with disapproval, “it is not for you to say where either of us choose to place our loyalty. Second – we are not going to dwell on what’s past. Finally,” her expression softened and Coulson saw her reach over to take Clint’s hand again, “I would follow you too, for what it’s worth.”

 _It’s worth everything,_ Coulson thought, but he didn’t dare say the words out loud – recognizing that Natasha had had her fill of emotional outbursts. “Thank you both,” he said instead, “and I accept. I would be even more of a fool than I’ve proven myself to be if I refused your offer.” He paused again, thinking over all the different threats in front of them. “Highest priority is going to have to be figuring out who our brother and sister team are and what they want. I trust I can count on you both to help me with that?” They each nodded immediately – the twinned gestures making him feel more secure about himself and his situation than he had in weeks.

“Of course first,” he said, allowing the hint of a smile to show, “Clint will need to debrief to Agent Simmons. I trust today is early enough to start?”


End file.
